Exact science in the modern sense started with Galileo Galilei. He understood that theories must be tested by observations and experiments. The “scientific method” implies that we:

Make a guess about how nature works

Test the guess via observations and experiments

Improve or discard the theory, i.e., back to 1

Science is organized doubt

Within science there is never total certainty. Instead, science has provisional “truths” that continuously are being questioned and replaced/revamped. Sometimes they even collapse completely and are replaced by entirely new “truths”. One example is how quantum mechanics replaced Newton’s mechanics for microscopic objects, as Newtonian theory is inapplicable in that realm.

Religion is in many ways the exact opposite of science. In religion faith plays a dominant role, and one neither should nor must question the right doctrine. This does not mean that religion in any way is inferior to science; they fulfil different purposes and needs for mankind.

Unfortunately, science has in many ways, mainly through the media, become a modern religion. How often has one not heard the argument that this or that has been “scientifically proven”? Unfortunately, even some scientists have themselves misinterpreted its central idea.

If you do not adhere to the right scientific dogma of the day you might have a very hard time making yourself heard and creating an impact. Science is thus just as sensitive to trends and fads as any other human endeavour. But that is the way it always has been. The “scientific method” will, eventually, find and discard, or correct, the faulty guesses/models/theories; it is just a matter of how quickly it happens (sometimes decades or more). Less than one percent of scientists are pioneers, i.e. revolutionary creative explorers of new territory, the rest are sorters and arrangers, who tidy up the initial mess and appliers who use the once groundbreaking results for the good of mankind. Both types are needed for the scientific method to work. However, only those with a talent for thinking “opposite enough” can be pioneers.